Nutrition

Cabbage is a fantastic source of vitamins K, C and folic acid to support blood clotting, bone health and your immune system.

Shopping Guide

Choose a fresh cabbage that is weighty for its size because it is a tough and dense vegetable. Try to pick a head that is small and has sturdy, compact leaves. While red cabbage should have richly hued purple leaves, green cabbage should have glossy, brilliant green leaves.

Storage

Cabbage keeps for a while – just store it dry in the fridge for 1-2 months. Once cut, it will still last a few days, just wrap tightly or store in an airtight container.

Preparation

Cabbage can be steamed, boiled, microwaved, stuffed, roasted, braised or stir-fried, and eaten pickled or fermented (sauerkraut) or raw in the form of salads or slaws (just mix with some mayonnaise or yoghurt, lemon juice and grated carrots and/or apples).

Kids in the Kitchen

For a younger child, why not show them how to carefully grate cabbage and mix it with mayonnaise, grated carrots and apple, and perhaps some seasoning, lemon juice, herbs or raisins to make a yummy homemade slaw!

For an older child, it could be a great opportunity to teach some essential knife skills. Can they thinly slice the cabbage with your help using the bridge and claw techniques?

Find more ideas for involving kids in the kitchen here.

Sensory

Cabbage is perfect for exploring with sight, especially red cabbage, since it is so visually fun! Describe a whole cabbage and one cut in half. What do you see? What colours are there? What patterns? What does it look like? If you feel up to trying some, take a little piece and chew it. If you are using red cabbage, stick your tongue out when you’ve swallowed – is your tongue purple yet? No? Then try again and see how purple you can go!

Find more sensory ideas, tips and videos here. If you get stuck and need a little help with describing words, we have a selection for you here, too!

Serving

Made some coleslaw with your child? Let them claim all credit for the dish and come up with a fun name for it! Can they find a great pun or a play on their name or even a silly story for the slaw they’ve helped make?

Find the best ways of involving your own child and their skills and interests on our Roles for Kids page.

Activities

Try sketching a halved red or Savoy cabbage, capturing the amazing patterns and colours with pencils, pens or paint.

Did you know red cabbage is a perfect pH indicator? Follow Stefan Gates’ colour-changing cabbage experiment, or explore its water-repelling properties in his water-phobic cabbage experiment.

You can find more at-home science fun with veg with our videos from Stefan Gates’ here.

Find loads more free veg-themed crafts here and games here.